Tens of thousands of people marched through central London on Saturday to protest against falling real wages and public spending cuts introduced to tame Britain's deficit.
	Organisers the Trades Union Congress (TUC), a federation of the country's main trade unions, estimated that around 80,000 supporters had gathered on the banks of the River Thames.
	Led by TUC chief Frances O'Grady, other union leaders and a marching band, the mile-long train of demonstrators set off from Waterloo Bridge at noon (1100 GMT) before snaking past Trafalgar Square on its way to Hyde Park, where it was to end.
	The "Britain Needs a Pay Rise" march organisers are calling on the government to take action to increase wages in both public and private sectors, claiming they have slumped by 50 pounds (USD 80) a week since 2008.
	"This is the worst I've known it," said Keith Martin, a 49-year-old labourer.
	"Everyone in public services has been hammered for the last three or four years, I've had a 25 percent pay 

Thousands march on London over wages

PTI Automatic

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Afghanistan today, the latest world leader to visit the war-ravaged country since President Ashraf Ghani took power after a prolonged political standoff.
	Erdogan will meet Ghani, his first vice president Abdul Rashid Dostum, and his former poll rival Abdullah Abdullah, who took the new role of "chief executive", a Turkish official told AFP.
	During his one-day tour Erdogan will also visit Turkish troops based in Afghanistan.
	Ghani was sworn in as the new Afghan president in late September after a fraud-tainted election that had plunged Afghanistan into months of political deadlock and threatened to take it on the brink of civil war.
	Turkey, which shares religious, historic and cultural ties with Afghanistan, in particular with the Afghan Uzbek community, is also involved in NATO operations with around 390 soldiers and trainers based in the country.
	Turkey has refused to take on any combat missions in Afghanistan, fearing a Muslim ..

Turkish president arrives in Afghanistan

Skipper Michael Clarke failed again as Australia lost a four-day warmup game against Pakistan 'A' by 153 runs in Sharjah on Saturday.
     Clarke, who is recovering from a hamstring injury and needed some batting practice ahead of Wednesday's first Test against Pakistan in Dubai, managed just five off as many balls before he was bowled by left-arm paceman Rahat Ali on the fourth and final day at Sharjah stadium.
     Clarke made just ten in the first innings but not much can be read into Australia's loss as the match was meant for practice only.
     Australia, chasing 339 to win were bowled out for 185 in their second innings with paceman Mohammad Talha (3-32) and left-arm spinner Raza Hasan (3-60) destroying Australia's plans for some useful practice.
     Pakistan 'A' had made 305-8 declared and 306-3 declared in their two innings.
     Australia had made 273-8 declared in their first knock.
     Hughes promised a different showing in the Tests.
     "It's good to see them going ...

Clarke fails again as Australia lose warmup

Islamic State group jihadists have executed a man in northern Syria they accused of filming their headquarters and displayed his body on a cross, a monitoring group said today.
	The man was put to death in the Aleppo province town of Al-Bab on Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
	His body was then strapped to a makeshift metal cross and hung with a sign reading "Abdullah Al-Bushi. Crime: filming Islamic State headquarters for 500 Turkish lira (USD222) per video," the Britain-based group said, citing witnesses on the ground.
	"Judgement: execution and crucifixion for three days," the sign hung around the man's neck added.
	IS has carried out repeated executions of those it accuses of spying or diverging from its harsh interpretation of Islam.
	It has publicly beheaded suspects and hung their bodies from crosses in its own version of crucifixions.
	Two IS fighters, one just 15, were, meanwhile, themselves executed after being taken prisoner during fighting around the 

IS jihadists execute man for 'filming HQ' in Syria

Two Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in combat with pro-Russian rebels in east Ukraine, Kiev's military said today, as violence rocked a truce after talks between Kiev and Moscow ended without a breakthrough.
	"Two Ukrainian soldiers were killed over the last day, three were injured," said spokesman Volodymyr Polyovy.
	"One soldier was killed by a sniper's bullet, and one as a result of a shelling attack," he said.
	The clashes are the latest violence to batter a fragile ceasefire deal between Kiev and the rebels, which has failed to stem fighting at flashpoints around the region.
	Polyovy said insurgents "continued to violate the ceasefire agreement at several locations" over the past 24 hours, including at the airport in rebel hub Donetsk where Ukrainian positions were shelled twice.
	Donetsk city hall said several residential houses were destroyed in the districts close to the airport.
	AFP correspondents in the separatist-controlled city, once the biggest in the region and home 

Two soldiers killed in east Ukraine fighting: Kiev

Relatives of Nigeria's kidnapped schoolgirls today dared voice cautious hope of seeing the teenagers finally freed after officials claimed to have reached a deal with Boko Haram militants.
	Senior government and military officials yesterday said they had struck a ceasefire agreement with the Islamists ravaging the country's north.
	The deal reportedly included the release of the 219 girls whom the extremists seized from their school in April in a case that drew global outrage and sparked a #BringBackOurGirls campaign that included the likes of US First Lady Michelle Obama and Pakistani Nobel Peace laureate Malala Yousafzai.
	"Chibok was thrown into a joyous mood yesterday with people prancing and jumping with happiness when the news was aired on the radio," Enoch Mark told AFP from the town where the girls, including his daughter and two nieces, were kidnapped.
	But Boko Haram's leader has yet to comment on the deal and a precedent of previous government and military claims about an ..

Anxious wait for Nigeria girls after Boko Haram 'deal'

Hurricane Gonzalo made a direct hit on Bermuda as a strong category two storm, knocking down trees, damaging a hospital and plunging most of the island's terrified residents into the dark.
	Gonzalo, which had already killed one person and caused property damage in the Caribbean, buffeted the British overseas territory in the Atlantic with maximum sustained winds of 110 miles per hour, forecasters said.
	By 0900 GMT Saturday, Gonzalo had torn its way over Bermuda and was about 190 miles northeast of the island -- home to about 65,000 people -- and moving quickly away, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in its latest forecast, downgrading it to a tropical storm.
	The island's only newspaper, The Royal Gazette, reported that 31,200 homes -- or a majority of Bermudians -- were without power.
	Flooding and storm surges were reported all around the island, trees were down across many roads and the main hospital had suffered damage to its roof, the report ...

Hurricane Gonzalo plunges Bermuda into darkness

Kurdish forces in the Syrian town of Kobane repulsed a new attempt by Islamic State fighters to cut off the border with Turkey today as troops battled the jihadists in neighbouring Iraq.
	A Kurdish official reported five new US-led strikes around Kobane overnight as the coalition kept up its air support for the town's defenders.
	But the US military said that while it saw some "encouraging" signs, the strikes might not prevent Kobane's fall and its priority remained the campaign against IS in Iraq.
	Heavy IS mortar fire hit the Syrian side of the border crossing with Turkey which is the Kurdish fighters' sole avenue for resupply and the only escape route for remaining civilians, Kurdish official Idris Nassen told AFP.
	The jihadists launched a fierce attack from the east towards the border gate before being pushed back, he added.
	Nassen said that IS had taken casualties in the fighting, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said the jihadists had sent in ...

Kurds thwart new jihadist bid to cut off Syria town

Twenty-two people, most of them women and children, have been hacked and clubbed to death in the troubled east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, just days after a similar massacre, a government official said today.
	The attack yesterday evening in the town of Eringeti, in North Kivu, left 10 women, eight children and four men dead, a local government official told AFP.
	"Most of the victims were killed with machetes, axes and hoes," the non-governmental group Civil Society of North Kivu said in a statement.
	Several children had their heads "bashed against the walls" it said, blaming a Ugandan rebel group that has terrorised the area for much of the last two decades.
	The attack occurred some 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the town of Beni, where 26 people were slaughtered with machetes on Thursday, raising doubts about government claims that the Ugandan fighters had been defeated.
	Amisi Kalonda, government administrator for the Beni area, said he was heading to Eringeti along with 

Women, children killed in new DR Congo attack: official

Defence lawyers for two ex-Khmer Rouge leaders today said they would boycott a new genocide trial until they appealed the pair's earlier conviction, in a move which threatens to delay an already lengthy case.
	In August Nuon Chea, 88, known as "Brother Number Two", and ex-head of state Khieu Samphan, 83, were given life sentences for crimes against humanity after their first trial at Cambodia's UN-backed court.
	That ruling saw them become the first top figures to be jailed from a regime responsible for the deaths of up to two million Cambodians from 1975-1979.
	Both men lodged appeals against the convictions last month but their lawyers today said they needed time to file the full appeal documents.
	"As long as we have not filed  appeal brief, we won't be able to attend" further hearings, said Anta Guisse, Khieu Samphan's lawyer, after a press conference in Phnom Penh.
	It is the first time defence lawyers have staged a boycott of the special court, set up in 2006 to try senior ...

Khmer Rouge defence lawyers boycott Cambodia genocide trial

A wild black bear dragged away and ate the body of a Californian man who had died of a suspected heart attack, news reports said.
	The bear is thought to have come across the body of 65-year-old Marion Lee Williams near his trailer in California's densely-forested and mountainous Humboldt County, the Los Angeles Times said yesterday.
	"It looks like he collapsed and died," CBS quoted county deputy coroner Roy Horton as saying. "The bear comes along and sees a potential food source."
	The animal dragged his body into a cave to feast on, the newspaper said.
	Williams, who lived alone and "off the grid," was last seen on October 8 and authorities discovered his remains on Monday, CBS reported.
	Investigators used Williams' fingerprints, dentures and pieces of clothing to identify him.
	He is believed to have died at some point in the past week, the LA Times said.
	"The bear does not pose a public threat," the paper quoted Andrew Hughan, spokesman for the California Department of Fish and 

Black bear eats body of Californian man: reports

Two Japanese ministers visited a controversial Tokyo war shrine today, the first Cabinet ministers to join a pilgrimage by 100 lawmakers to the spot condemned by China and Korea as a symbol of Japan's wartime aggression.
	Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Sanae Takaichi visited the Yasukuni Shrine in downtown Tokyo, a day after the cross-party group of parliamentarians also went to the site in a move that angered Beijing.
	National Public Safety Commission chief Eriko Yamatani also visited the shrine soon after Takaichi.
	The 145-year-old Shinto shrine is the supposed repository of the souls of some 2.5 million citizens and soldiers who died in World War II and other conflicts.
	They include senior figures in the WWII administration, such as General Hideki Tojo, who ordered the attack on Pearl Harbor.
	The visit is likely to further irritate China, which voiced its anger yesterday at the pilgrimage to the shrine by 100 lawmakers and Abe's offering of a potted tree with his .

Japan ministers visit controversial Tokyo war shrine

The police officer who shot dead Michael Brown in the US town of Ferguson says he was pinned in his vehicle and struggling over his gun with the black teenager, a news report said.
	Brown's death two months ago sparked ongoing protests, some violent, in the town near St Louis and shone a spotlight on police tactics in the United States and relations between US law enforcement and African Americans.
	The white policeman, Darren Wilson, has told investigators that he feared for his life, The New York Times reported yesterday, citing government officials briefed on the federal civil rights investigation into the fatal shooting of Brown, 18.
	During the scuffle, Brown reached for the officer's gun, according to Wilson. The weapon was fired twice in the car, FBI forensics tests have revealed.
	The first bullet hit Brown in the arm and the second bullet missed.
	Wilson also told authorities that Brown had punched and scratched him repeatedly, the Times reported.
	The first public account of 

US policeman who shot dead teen 'feared for his life'

Riot police clashed violently with pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong today as demonstrators reoccupied a camp mostly cleared the previous day, leading to multiple arrests and jeopardising talks aimed at ending a political stalemate.
	Police used batons and pepper spray against protesters shielding themselves with umbrellas on a normally busy main road in the bustling Mongkok district, but were forced into a partial retreat as the sun began to rise, to cheers from the crowd.
	Activists rushed to rebuild makeshift barricades in an area police had opened to traffic 24 hours earlier, while thousands of others staged a sit-in at the protest camp that has existed for nearly three weeks, according to an AFP reporter at the scene.
	Hong Kong police said in a statement they had made 26 arrests in scuffles with a crowd that had swelled to 9,000 people in the early hours, with 15 officers sustaining injuries in the ruckus.
	It was the third consecutive night that violence has broken out ...

Multiple arrests as Hong Kong protesters retake camp

The WTA said it has fined Russian Tennis Federation President Shamil Tarpischev USD 25,000 over a comment questioning the gender of Serena and Venus Williams.
     In a statement released yesterday, WTA chief executive Stacey Allaster blasted the remarks made on a late-night chat show, which according to translations circulated on English-language social media included referring to the US superstars as the "Williams brothers".
     "The statements made by Shamil Tarpischev on Russian television with respect to two of the greatest athletes in the history of women's tennis are insulting, demeaning and have absolutely no place in our sport," Allaster said.
    	Officials of the worldwide women's tennis tour said that the USD 25,000 fine is the maximum allowed under their rules.
     They are also banning Tarpischev for one year from involvement with the tour and are seeking his removal as chairman of the Kremlin Cup tournament for a year.
    	The 2014 edition of the combined men's and ..

WTA fines Russian tennis chief over Williams comments

Nigeria today claimed to have reached a deal with Boko Haram militants on a ceasefire and the release of more than 200 kidnapped schoolgirls but doubts immediately surrounded the purported breakthrough.
	Chief of Defence Staff Air Marshal Alex Badeh told senior military officials from Nigeria and Cameroon meeting in Abuja that a "ceasefire agreement" had been concluded between the government and the insurgents.
	"I have accordingly directed the service chiefs to ensure immediate compliance with this development," he added.
	Badeh's announcement came after a senior aide to President Goodluck Jonathan, Hassan Tukur, told AFP an agreement to end hostilities had been reached following talks, as well as for the release of 219 girls held captive since April.
	But a precedent of previous government and military claims about an end to the deadly five-year conflict and the fate of the missing teenagers left many observers cautious.
	Jonathan is also expected to declare his bid for re-election .

Nigeria claims deal with Boko Haram on ceasefire, kidnapped

Air France flight attendant unions today called for a halt to services to the Guinean capital Conakry due to concerns about a "serious risk" of spreading Ebola.
	The daily Air France Paris-Conakry flight "carries a serious risk of spreading the epidemic, particularly in our country," read a statement from the two unions of flight crew and commercial staff.
	They called for a closure of the route until the epidemic is under control.
	They also slammed what they called totally inappropriate protection from Air France -- which provided them with "a simple pair of gloves" -- and called for more suitable measures, in a letter to Transport Minister Alain Vidalies.
	The unions underlined that other airlines, such as British Airways and Emirates, had suspended flights to Conakry.
	France will on Saturday start carrying out health checks on travellers arriving from Guinea, one of the worst-hit nations alongside Liberia and Sierra Leone.
	Air France suspended flights to Sierra Leone at the end .

Air France unions seek to stop flights to Guinea

Car bombs exploded in three crowded areas of the Iraqi capital today, killing at least 23 people, the latest in a string of deadly blasts in the city, officials said.
	One car bomb hit Baladiyat in eastern Baghdad, killing at least 13 people, security and medical officials said.
	A second struck Adhamiyah in the north, killing at least five, and a third, in the central Karrada district, left at least five more dead.
	The bombings also wounded more than 50 people.
	Militants led by the powerful Islamic State jihadist group have seized large areas of Iraq since June, and Iraqi security forces are still struggling to regain ground.
	The militants have been kept from reaching Baghdad in force and would face major challenges if they tried to occupy part of the city, but they are able to carry out deadly bombings with impunity.
	Bombings in and around Baghdad killed at least 26 people Thursday, while a suicide car bomb on Tuesday killed 28 people, among them an MP who was also a senior ...

Baghdad car bombs kill 23

US President Barack Obama today ordered "pin and chip" security measures for government payment systems, aiming to stem the proliferation of credit card fraud and identity theft.
	The president signed an executive order which adds an extra layer of protection for US government cards and payment terminals, at a time when the financial industry is moving in the same direction.
	"More than 100 million Americans had information that was compromised in data breaches in some of our largest companies.
 And identity theft is now America's fastest-growing crime," Obama said as he signed the order.
	"The idea that somebody halfway around the world could run up thousands of dollars in charges in your name just because they stole your number, or because you swiped your card at the wrong place in the wrong time, that's infuriating. For victims, it's heartbreaking.  And as a country, we've got to do more to stop it."
	The order puts government payments in a more secure system that have cut fraud in 

Obama unveils new measures to stem identity theft

Canada has promised to double its financial contribution to the United Nations' fight against Ebola in West Africa, the country's health minister announced Friday.
	Ottawa will increase its aid to USD53 million, up from 30 million Canadian Dollars it had pledged last month, said Health Minister Rona Ambrose.
	Ambrose said the pledge increase was in direct response to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's call for more robust assistance by the international community.
	The Ebola virus has already killed more than 4,000 people, most in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
	Underfunded health systems in west Africa have been crippled by the disease, which has spiraled out of control and infected 7,400 people since the beginning of the year.

Canada to double UN contribution to fight Ebola

The Swedish armed forces announced a large military operation around islands off Stockholm today following reports of suspicious "foreign underwater activity".
	"We have begun an intelligence operation... Involving ships, helicopters and several ground units," Commander Jonas Wikstroem told reporters.
	He said the operation was based on a tip-off from a "credible source" and that about 200 Swedish troops were involved. He added that no weapons had been used in the operation.
	Wikstroem did not specify how close the operation was to the Swedish capital, nor whether the activity involved one of more submarines, but said that he was informing the public as the area has "heavily trafficked".
	Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet reported that the sighting was at an island located just over 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the city centre.
	In recent months, Sweden has seen an uptick in Baltic Sea manoeuvres by the Russian air force -- including an incident in September when two SU24 ...

AFP

AFP

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